Passionate Representation -
And the Best Collection of Adult Entertainment Law Materials Online -
Anywhere
115 South LaSalle Street
Suite 2600
Chicago, Illinois 60603
phone: 312-558-6420
email J. D. Obenberger
email Reed Lee
A Law Firm Devoted to Liberty
There are those of us who think that personal Liberty is a moral value, too.
In fact, our ancestors chose to put the word "Liberty” on all American coins. They might have chosen “Decency,” “Moral Order,” “Law and Order,” or even “United We Stand”—but they chose Liberty. That decision by our forebearers was made at the start so all generations might remember—every day—that Liberty from the reach of government power is the cornerstone of our American values. The immigrants arriving by ship to New York Harbor did not look up to catch a glimpse of the Statue of Decency; They saw the Statue of Liberty when they sailed into port—and if co-existing with some perceived indecency was the price of breathing their own free air, it was a choice they were generally delighted to make, because the price of freedom is one's tolerance of the freedom that others enjoy.
The winds from the approaching storm portend a struggle broadly between tolerance and intolerance, between freedom and control, between Liberty and repression. The battle we will wage—and win—is not a narrow struggle merely about what is permissible in adult entertainment, but rather about the range of the human soul to freely dream, express, and receive. And in this struggle, we defend not only the adult industry and its customers, but the Liberty and individual rights of the American People to make their own decisions about what they view, read, and hear.
Personal freedom and privacy need no excuse.
As an advocate for clients involved in the adult industry, I
know that as I defend them, it will be with both feet planted firmly in
the traditions, constitution, laws, and history of a free People. The
narrow, fringe, dogmatic zealotry of our opponents will be exposed for
what it is. Come what may, we shall together assure that the People who
came to these shores in the hope of freedom will remain free.
J. D. Obenberger, Pleasurboating on the River Rubicon, Online Pornography, Opposing Viewpoints, Thomson-Gale, 2007.
For a long time, the princes of online porn have been the dirty street urchins of the digital age, and by God, they think it's time to join Bill Gates and the Google guys in the gilded halls of business. Obenberger may be their most vociferous champion.
Brian Alexander, America Unzipped, In Search of Sex and Satisfaction, Random House, 2008.
Member
Free Speech Coalition
EFF Free Speech Online
Blue Ribbon Campaign
Electronic Privacy
Information Center
American Library Association
Banned Books Week
Member First Amendment
Lawyers' Association
A Hands-On Guide to the Resoucrces of this Website is found HERE.
We
are attorneys
concentrated in passionate advocacy in the field
of adult entertainment law, adult
business law, and
First Amendement Law. We chiefly serve existing and aspiring
members of the adult entertainment community around the world from
Chicago, Illinois, though, like every lawyer, we also provide
representation and guidance to many other kinds of clients
as well.
If you are searching for a lawyer to protect and defend your adult entertainment business, feel free to look around here and check out the fit. Do you have questions about how to protect yourself from liability and lawsuits, how to comply with all of the legal requirements associated with the creation of sexually-explicit content and the operation of an adult web site, including the twists and turns of Section 2257, the DMCA, and the CDA's Section 230? Do you want to shoot and sell adult content materials? If so, we can help you protect your content, your copyright, and your trademark against infringement and piracy, and even rapracious performers demanding a takedown after they have executed a release and have been paid. We prepare every kind of contract and document necessary for adult content production from model releases, Work For Hire agreements, and Section 2257 Data Acquisition forms to terms of service and trademark registrations. Whether you are new to the business or an established adult video producer, we can provide you with the advice, documents, and protocols that you need to establish your adult entertainment business on a sure and solid foundation, deal with legal adversity, and help you to climb as far as your talents and hard work may take you. Our practice is about reducing risk traditionally associated with all adult businesses and the new risks that have arisen duing the age of digital communication. We also have substantial experience in brick and mortar adult entertainment businesses, from bookstore to gentlemen's clubs, involving licensing and restrictive adult use zoning issues. That's how we got our start in Chicago.
We are not afraid of courtrooms if that's where our client's rights must take us: we have successfully defended our clients against obscenity charges and investigations. We thoroughly investigate the facts and the law when we undertake a case, we often craft novel, creative arguments, and we then fight on behalf of each client with zeal and passion. We believe that our duty to each client calls for no less than that. We make ourselves available to our clients as nearly constantly, round the clock, as is practically possible, even when we are far from Chicago and the United States. We believe that kind of availability is necessarily entailed when lawyers undertake to represent those who are as hated and reviled by as many in some quarters as the members of the adult industry.
We are proud to present here the most comprehensive collection of legal materials concerning erotic expression assembled anywhere online. All of the important statutes from Title 18 United States Code Section 2257 to the DMCA and the CDA, all of the cases and regulations and official commentaries involving 18 USC 2257 going back to the beginning, substantial resources concerning trademark and the Copyright Act, and even the interfaces that exist among the making of sexually explicit films, state prostitution laws, and the federal Mann Act. All of the federal statutes concerning Obscenity are set forth in one place along with the text of the US Attorny's Manual concerning how discretion ought to be exercised in charging publishers under those statutes. We include a table profiling the bulk of federal and state obscenity prosectutions brought during the past decade, providing important details and the final outcome of each. In our "Cases" Section, more than one hundred leading cases bearing on the repression of erotic entertainment are set forth together with other cases shedding light on adult expressive rights. You will find Henry Hill of Goodfella's fame, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, and John Stagliano and dozens of important figures, many of them little-heralded heroes. Roth and Memoirs and Stanley and Miller and Brocket are collected here with every other important American case addressing adult entertainment issues together with the many other cases involving restrictive adult use zoning and licensing, the execution of search warrants in obscenity cases, and others that bear on how obscenity cases are actually to be tried in court. We present for your interest dozens of articles detailing them in substantial depth. Each case is introduced by some original analysis topical to our field of concentration, found nowhere else.
This website and the materials it contains are written to educate the public and encourage public discussion and debate about the subjects discussed here, and for the purpose of reaching lawmakers and those charged with interpretation and enforcement of the law, with the intent of enacting and establishing fairer and more sensible laws and enforcing the law in a reasonable manner consistent with such very traditional American values such as Freedom of Speech, individual Liberty, personal privacy, and fair dealing. None of them establish an attorney-client relationship nor provide legal advice. If you have a legal issue or question, contact a lawyer. If you are arrested, make no statement, consent to nothing, and contact a lawyer immediately, but offer no physical resistance.
If you don't find the answer you are looking for in the considerable resources of this site, feel free to contact us through email or by phone.
Every case depends on its own merits and the results reported on this site for any particular case do not and cannot predict the outcome of any other case. Neither we nor any lawyer can predict or guarantee the outcome in any legal matter, but it becomes our happy duty to apply our very best skill, knowledge, and judgment for the zealous and passionate representation of every client. The decison to retain a lawyer is a serious decision with far-ranging conseqences which should never be made on the basis of advertising alone, but should be reached only upon due deliberation and after researching and investigating into the reputation, ability, experience, and character of the available lawyers and only after personal contact. The State of Illinois does not certify any lawyer to be a specialist in Constitutional Law, the law of Free Speech, Adult Entertainment Law, Copyright or Trademark Law, and accordingly we make no claim to be "specialists". J. D. Obenberger and Reed Lee are licensed to practice law in the respective jurisdictions listed for each in the Biographies Page of this site only, including Illinois, the Supreme Court of the United States and numerous other federal courts both at the trial and appellate level. We provide legal services only in our offices in Chicago, in jurisdictions in which we are regularly admitted, and in jurisdictions in which we become specially admitted Pro Hac Vice by the courts to handle particular cases. We stand ready, willing, and able to defend any Obscenity or Section 2257 criminal prosecution in any American jurisdiction with the court's consent; It is your right under the Sixth Amendment to secure counsel of choice for your defense. We believe that it is important for many reasons that every person, especially members of the adult industry, retain a lawyer who is locally admitted in his or her own jurisdiction and it is an invariable practice in our office to recommend the retention of locally and regularly admitted counsel to work with us for the effective representation of clients involved in litigation or criminal matters in other jurisdictions. We have endeavored to comply with all known legal and ethical requirements in compiling this website; we cannot represent clients generated through this Web site from states or countries where the material and information contained herein should not comply with local ethical rules. In the event that any material on or communication from this website does not conform with the laws or regulations of any state or country in which it may be received, we will decline the representation. Frank information concerning professional fees will be provided upon request. We are committed to providing legal services without any distinction based on race, religious belief, sex, sexual orientation, politics, national origin, or citizenship or residency status. We regularly provide services without cost or at reduced fees in approriate, select cases to the poor and disadvantaged. We are available to speak on issues of law and freedom to groups without fee.
Additional Important Information, including our Privacy Policy, is available Here.
© Copyright 1995 - 2013 J. D. Obenberger. All rights reserved under the laws of the United States and under all International Conventions and Treaties. No copyright is claimed regarding the decisions of any court, statutes, administrative regulations, court pleadings or argument, nor any publication of any entity of government. Many articles contained on this site first appeared for publication elsewhere. XXXLAW ® is a registered trademark protected by the laws of the United States. AdultInternetlaw.comSM and AdultInternetLawSM are service marks also protected under the laws of the United States and of individual states.
If you are searching for a lawyer to protect and defend your adult entertainment business, feel free to look around here and check out the fit. Do you have questions about how to protect yourself from liability and lawsuits, how to comply with all of the legal requirements associated with the creation of sexually-explicit content and the operation of an adult web site, including the twists and turns of Section 2257, the DMCA, and the CDA's Section 230? Do you want to shoot and sell adult content materials? If so, we can help you protect your content, your copyright, and your trademark against infringement and piracy, and even rapracious performers demanding a takedown after they have executed a release and have been paid. We prepare every kind of contract and document necessary for adult content production from model releases, Work For Hire agreements, and Section 2257 Data Acquisition forms to terms of service and trademark registrations. Whether you are new to the business or an established adult video producer, we can provide you with the advice, documents, and protocols that you need to establish your adult entertainment business on a sure and solid foundation, deal with legal adversity, and help you to climb as far as your talents and hard work may take you. Our practice is about reducing risk traditionally associated with all adult businesses and the new risks that have arisen duing the age of digital communication. We also have substantial experience in brick and mortar adult entertainment businesses, from bookstore to gentlemen's clubs, involving licensing and restrictive adult use zoning issues. That's how we got our start in Chicago.
We are not afraid of courtrooms if that's where our client's rights must take us: we have successfully defended our clients against obscenity charges and investigations. We thoroughly investigate the facts and the law when we undertake a case, we often craft novel, creative arguments, and we then fight on behalf of each client with zeal and passion. We believe that our duty to each client calls for no less than that. We make ourselves available to our clients as nearly constantly, round the clock, as is practically possible, even when we are far from Chicago and the United States. We believe that kind of availability is necessarily entailed when lawyers undertake to represent those who are as hated and reviled by as many in some quarters as the members of the adult industry.
We are proud to present here the most comprehensive collection of legal materials concerning erotic expression assembled anywhere online. All of the important statutes from Title 18 United States Code Section 2257 to the DMCA and the CDA, all of the cases and regulations and official commentaries involving 18 USC 2257 going back to the beginning, substantial resources concerning trademark and the Copyright Act, and even the interfaces that exist among the making of sexually explicit films, state prostitution laws, and the federal Mann Act. All of the federal statutes concerning Obscenity are set forth in one place along with the text of the US Attorny's Manual concerning how discretion ought to be exercised in charging publishers under those statutes. We include a table profiling the bulk of federal and state obscenity prosectutions brought during the past decade, providing important details and the final outcome of each. In our "Cases" Section, more than one hundred leading cases bearing on the repression of erotic entertainment are set forth together with other cases shedding light on adult expressive rights. You will find Henry Hill of Goodfella's fame, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, and John Stagliano and dozens of important figures, many of them little-heralded heroes. Roth and Memoirs and Stanley and Miller and Brocket are collected here with every other important American case addressing adult entertainment issues together with the many other cases involving restrictive adult use zoning and licensing, the execution of search warrants in obscenity cases, and others that bear on how obscenity cases are actually to be tried in court. We present for your interest dozens of articles detailing them in substantial depth. Each case is introduced by some original analysis topical to our field of concentration, found nowhere else.
This website and the materials it contains are written to educate the public and encourage public discussion and debate about the subjects discussed here, and for the purpose of reaching lawmakers and those charged with interpretation and enforcement of the law, with the intent of enacting and establishing fairer and more sensible laws and enforcing the law in a reasonable manner consistent with such very traditional American values such as Freedom of Speech, individual Liberty, personal privacy, and fair dealing. None of them establish an attorney-client relationship nor provide legal advice. If you have a legal issue or question, contact a lawyer. If you are arrested, make no statement, consent to nothing, and contact a lawyer immediately, but offer no physical resistance.
If you don't find the answer you are looking for in the considerable resources of this site, feel free to contact us through email or by phone.
Every case depends on its own merits and the results reported on this site for any particular case do not and cannot predict the outcome of any other case. Neither we nor any lawyer can predict or guarantee the outcome in any legal matter, but it becomes our happy duty to apply our very best skill, knowledge, and judgment for the zealous and passionate representation of every client. The decison to retain a lawyer is a serious decision with far-ranging conseqences which should never be made on the basis of advertising alone, but should be reached only upon due deliberation and after researching and investigating into the reputation, ability, experience, and character of the available lawyers and only after personal contact. The State of Illinois does not certify any lawyer to be a specialist in Constitutional Law, the law of Free Speech, Adult Entertainment Law, Copyright or Trademark Law, and accordingly we make no claim to be "specialists". J. D. Obenberger and Reed Lee are licensed to practice law in the respective jurisdictions listed for each in the Biographies Page of this site only, including Illinois, the Supreme Court of the United States and numerous other federal courts both at the trial and appellate level. We provide legal services only in our offices in Chicago, in jurisdictions in which we are regularly admitted, and in jurisdictions in which we become specially admitted Pro Hac Vice by the courts to handle particular cases. We stand ready, willing, and able to defend any Obscenity or Section 2257 criminal prosecution in any American jurisdiction with the court's consent; It is your right under the Sixth Amendment to secure counsel of choice for your defense. We believe that it is important for many reasons that every person, especially members of the adult industry, retain a lawyer who is locally admitted in his or her own jurisdiction and it is an invariable practice in our office to recommend the retention of locally and regularly admitted counsel to work with us for the effective representation of clients involved in litigation or criminal matters in other jurisdictions. We have endeavored to comply with all known legal and ethical requirements in compiling this website; we cannot represent clients generated through this Web site from states or countries where the material and information contained herein should not comply with local ethical rules. In the event that any material on or communication from this website does not conform with the laws or regulations of any state or country in which it may be received, we will decline the representation. Frank information concerning professional fees will be provided upon request. We are committed to providing legal services without any distinction based on race, religious belief, sex, sexual orientation, politics, national origin, or citizenship or residency status. We regularly provide services without cost or at reduced fees in approriate, select cases to the poor and disadvantaged. We are available to speak on issues of law and freedom to groups without fee.
Additional Important Information, including our Privacy Policy, is available Here.
© Copyright 1995 - 2013 J. D. Obenberger. All rights reserved under the laws of the United States and under all International Conventions and Treaties. No copyright is claimed regarding the decisions of any court, statutes, administrative regulations, court pleadings or argument, nor any publication of any entity of government. Many articles contained on this site first appeared for publication elsewhere. XXXLAW ® is a registered trademark protected by the laws of the United States. AdultInternetlaw.comSM and AdultInternetLawSM are service marks also protected under the laws of the United States and of individual states.
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